


Observer

by xtricks



Category: Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-26
Updated: 2004-10-26
Packaged: 2017-10-06 13:12:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtricks/pseuds/xtricks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A hot day on base and Joe goes to see Dex at work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Observer

Joe liked to think of himself as a keen judge of, well, everything. He had to be. Split second decisions, world destroying villains, nosy female reporters meeting old flames. What he did between one heartbeat and the next kept the world going 'round safe and sound.

He walked quietly up to his hanger - Sky Captain's hanger - where his plane (and the wreckage of various past planes, damaged in combat, in experiments, or simply too outdated but still loved) lived when she didn't live in the skies. Hot red light flickered and spat in the shadows; a welder rig was hissing a molten line along the shell of one of the test planes. The sputtering light and red shadows looked like something Bela Lugosi would star in but the stocky figure Joe watched in silence was no movie screen actor.

Dex, in the security of the base and the mechanic's bay - and suffering like them all under the sharp summer heat - had stripped to his old military issue undershirt. It wasn't a common sight; Dex was very conscious of his youth, his bubble-gum reputation and his position as the Legion's chief engineer. He almost always wore respectable, standard issue brown and tans. Joe rarely even saw him in skivvies; he didn't have to ask why. It was the same reason Joe was wearing the summer kit today; short sleeves crisp, the pleat on his cotton pants starched in by his man. He was the base commander and had to dress suitable to his station. Dex did the same, most of the time.

Joe leaned against the edge of the hanger door, feeling the sun like a weight on his back, a smile he wasn't aware of sliding across his face. He didn't understand mechanics; Dex was wearing heavy leather gauntlets and a welder's mask but had bare arms and shoulders while sparks rained down around him, jumping on the floor around his boots or dancing across his bare skin before dying out. He'd never met a mechanic who even noticed it, let alone showed the expected signs of scorches and burns from spending all day in the welder's pit.

His shadow stretched dark and long across the concrete and he sidestepped to put Dex in it. Dex stiffened immediately and turned around, monstrous in the welder's mask with the flame of his torch leaving heat ripples in the air. Joe had first met Dex in Transylvania, fending off Baron Samedi's pack of trained and drug crazed killer dogs with nothing but a welding torch and a wrench; he had great respect for Dex's skills. The flame died and Dex hiked off the mask and gauntlets, coming over to him with heat flushed skin and sweat tangled hair. Joe's smile faded into something more intense.

"Hey Cap'n," Dex pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped his face, stilling with a curious look when Joe didn't answer him.

The only reason Joe understood why some people though Dex was childlike was because he'd been fooled himself but watching the gleam of sweat on hard biceps, the way the T-shirt clung to the chest of a man used to hauling plane engines around all day and the flex of muscles in Dex's forearms left no doubt in Joe's mind that he was a man. The look in his eyes; blazing, alive, brilliant told Joe - with his keen observational skills - that he was looking at one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. Even so, there was something young about Dex, something that Joe didn't think would ever age off and it wasn't just the smell of Double Bubble that usually hung around him either. Right now, he smelled like sweat; clean and strong.

"So, what's the project?" Joe sauntered over to the plane, a narrow, unarmored, tiny thing. It didn't have hardly any fuel reserves and not much in the way of controls either. Not one of Joe's favorites to fly but Dex used it - and others like it - on experimental flights of fancy when they didn't want to waste a more expensive plane on possibly destructive experiments.

Dex came up beside him with a grin, attention diverted back to his latest project. "Upper atmosphere flight, higher than you've ever been before, Captain. Need some real push though, real speed, to get up there."

Speed and the sky - Joe shot Dex a sideways, excited, smile and clambered up the wing to peer inside and see if any new controls were installed. Nothing yet, mostly holes with dangling wires. "When?"

"Soon, Cap'n," Dex laughed. "Soon."

"You always make me wait for the good stuff," Joe grumbled, sliding down the narrow wing to drop to the concrete floor. Dex's laugh caught for a moment then changed, something husky about it. Something Joe had noticed before, in Dex's eyes, his voice and, yes, his hands were gripping the gloves hard, knuckles white. Luckily, it didn't take a genius to figure it out - just a good observer - and Joe strolled back to the big hanger door and hauled it closed in a crashing rattle of metal.

"Captain?" Dex asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not the smartest bloke in the world," Joe said conversationally, heading back to where Dex was watching him in the now dim hanger. "But I know what I see."

He stopped in front of Dex, close - too close for comfort - and met those intense, dark eyes, hoping Dex wouldn't back off. That he wasn't wrong. If Dex were half as observant as Joe thought he was - surely he'd see the pounding of Joe's heart. Surely he'd know….

Dex's face suddenly flooded with hot color and if his gaze flickered; it was only an instant before he met Joe's look with one of his own. A look caught somewhere between disbelief and hope. He seemed frozen and Joe's grin returned as, with a wink, he rested his hands gently on Dex's sweat damp T-shirt. Dex twitched and sucked in a hard breath.

"You're not chewing any gum are you?"

"No - Ca - "

Joe bent and kissed him. Not rough, not gentle, just the hint of parted lips. Suggestive. Dex was motionless beneath him; mouth still and unresponsive. Joe's stomach dropped as if he was in a falling plane, all his observations had been wrong - and here he was with his mouth on Dex's and feeling…nothing back. Joe jerked back, face white and with the taste of panic in his mouth. Dex looked stunned and the memory of his mouth, so still, was burned into Joe's skin with desire and humiliation.

"Dex -!"

"Joe…"

They spoke at the same time and Dex cut off Joe's stumbling, horrified apology. He'd been insane, drunk. Anything at all - so long as they forgot this moment had ever happened. Finally, Dex dragged him close again and kissed him back.

Desperate relief made Joe frantic. He cupped Dex's jaw in his hands and savored the searching feel of his lips. Joe pressed his tongue along Dex's lower lip, tasting salt and soot, feeling small tremors in Dex's body before he caught Joe's tongue in a sly, quick nip. The thrill rushed down, driving Joe's hips in a little thrust against Dex and he felt an answering press that only coaxed him on. Dex was sucking his tongue, hard, quick pulls that made Joe curl his fingers into Dex's hair and groans roll from his throat. The sensuous pull made his Dick ache.

They broke apart for a quick gasp. "Joe - good?"

"Yeah ... more."

Then he had to kiss Dex again, or maybe Dex had to kiss him again. Either way, their mouths met. Their chests met, their hips met. Joe tasted Dex's whimper when they thrust together. Joe's tongue slid along the line of Dex's teeth, then stroked along the velvet of Dex's tongue pushing into his mouth. He wanted this to be perfect but forgot all that when Dex tickled his sensitive hard palate with a talent Joe hadn't expected. Moaning, he tore his mouth from Dex's, laying a line of wet kisses down his jaw, over the salty skin of Dex's throat, pressing tongue and lips and teeth against the throbbing hollow at the side of Dex's neck. Joe curled his fingers in Dex's hair, thumb rubbing at the base of his skull, other hand pressed tight to Dex's shaking back.

"Joe ... Joe," Dex muttered, hands dancing lightly over Joe's crisp cotton shirt as if he couldn't decide where to touch him. Joe mumbled something into his neck, eyes squeezed shut and feeling Dex's entire body hot against his own.

"Unbutton your pants," Joe said roughly, then bit Dex's earlobe. Joe didn't make it easy, as Dex's hands pushed between them. He rocked his hips, rubbing his erection against the back of Dex's fumbling hands. He rimmed Dex's ear, pushing wet along the shape of him, biting hard enough to make Dex hitch and gasp. Finally, Dex was bare, belt dangling and pants loose on his hips. Joe closed his hand over the lifted length of Dex's dick. Dex groaned and nearly collapsed in his arms.

"Hang in there, kid," Joe chuckled. "I'm not done yet."

"I nearly am--" Dex panted, voice squeaky, as Joe let his dick slide idly in is fist. "Oh, gee wiz Joe ... no, don't stop…"

With a grin, Joe dropped to his knees, despite Dex's frantic tugs on his hair that stopped when he got an idea of what Joe planned. Those clever fingers spasmed in Joe's hair and the Dick in his fist lurched, fluid suddenly drooling from the tip in Dex's excitement. There was something so hot in the sight, it made the weather unimportant and the sweat gleaming on Joe's cheeks had nothing to do with the closed in heat of the hanger. Dex's hands slid down Joe's face and he caught a thumb between his teeth, biting gently then flicking his tongue tip along the end. Joe didn't care about dirty fingernails, or the taste of hot metal mixed with sweat and oil. He cared about the darkening surge of Dex's dick, the way he rocked up on his toes suddenly and the smell of sex mixing with the smell of gasoline and sweat.

"I - I can't - " Dex's voice was a strangled whisper and Joe could see his thighs shaking through the lose pants. Dex's nails scratched lightly at his neck, bright lines of pleasure. "I'm going to -"

Joe leaned forward abruptly, spitting Dex's thumb from his mouth for a better toy. Yeah, it had to be now, because it was now for Dex and Joe barely got his mouth around the head before Dex came with a stutter of Joe's name and a clumsy dance of his hips. The welding mask slid off the plane's wing and clattered nosily to the ground next to Joe and he inhaled at the wrong time; coughing around Dex's dick, still twitching and spitting strands of cum into his mouth. Eyes watering, Joe had to lean back, head thrown back and gasping for breath.

"Oh -" Dex sounded faint and he sank down despite Joe's attempts to hold him up. But Dex wasn't faint. He kissed Joe savagely, teeth biting, tongue sweeping into his mouth as if Dex were trying to climb into him. Dex licked Joe's wet chin, sucking at him in a way that had Joe grunting and scrabbling mindlessly at his pants. Dex's hands were there, compact palms, long fingers; clever as they freed Joe's aching dick from his summer casuals. Two fingers slipped down to tease at Joe's balls snuggled tight to the root of his shaft and Joe whimpered into Dex's mouth. Dex bit his lip, Joe hadn't taken him for being a biter, even as his fingers teased with tormenting gentleness at the gathered foreskin, teasing it across the glans of his dick, then sliding it back. He had imagined that Dex's hands would feel this good though. Joe, pulse throbbing in his dick and his mouth, arched forward with a groan of relief as Dex wrapped his genius hand around his dick and began to stroke.

Joe's fingers fell on top of his, "Tight - tighter, Dex."

"L - like that?" Dex breathed, lips brushing Joe's cheek. His arm jostled between them as Joe spread his knees wider, uncaring of the grit digging into him through his pants. "Do you like it?"

"Yes ... yesss. Yes," Joe chanted softly, a handful of Dex's shirt clutched in one fist.

"You're so hot," Dex panted. "Joe - so hot."

"You're going to make me come."

"Yeah, like this, all over, like this, Joe." Dex's hand sped, fabric rustling and Joe's pants were louder, tighter - frantic.

"Dex… oh, oh, god, it's g-good"

"I can feel it--"

"Good. Good. Dex!" Joe jerked, feeling his muscles seize and the lush, lightning strike of climax race through him. Dex was here, was here, his hand pulling him, touch gentling as Joe groaned in relief, still sparking with pleasure. All his strength had rushed away and all that kept him from sliding to the concrete was Dex's arm around his back. Joe let his head fall to Dex's shoulder, feeling a slight tremor in him and the stroke of his hand on Joe's back.

After a few moments when all Joe wanted to do was shut his eyes and drift; Dex shifted, pulling a rag from his back pocket and wiping his wrist and fingers clean. Joe sighed and leaned back, fumbling his shrinking dick back into his pants. Standing, he brushed at his grit-covered knees while Dex buttoned his own pants and picked up the welder's mask.

He was wiping his mouth with a handkerchief when Dex glanced at him, gaze awkward and intense. "Will we…will we be doing this again?"

Joe cleared his throat. "Uhm ... yes. If you - if you want."

Dex's smile was sudden and brilliant, joyous and Joe smiled back, heart hammering in his chest. "Of course I do, Cap. You knew that already, didn't you?"

Joe nodded, still smiling, feeling a foolish touch if desire heat him again, even though there was no hope of getting hard so soon. "Not Captain, not…"

He gestured, not knowing what word he was looking for. "Not like this."

Dex had a piece of gum half-unwrapped, the square of bright pink odd, almost obscene in the dim light. "All right…Joe."

Joe stepped forward and caught Dex's wrist before he could put the gum in his mouth and kissed him one more time, until they were both breathless. "Good boy, Dex."

**END (102604)**

**Author's Note:**

> One of only two Sky Captain stories I've written. Unexpectedly good, I think.


End file.
